Pressurized gas bottles are commonly used in many industrial processes and supply many different gases for many different uses. Many of these gases are hazardous and hence release of the gas can be dangerous and in some cases explosions can occur. Transportation of such bottles which often weight of the order of 150 lbs. is common so that they can be moved to a site of use from a site of production or storage. In the event of any kind of accident during the transportation, the bottles can be released from their transport position with the potential for catastrophic results.
Typically such bottles are transported in upright position often along the sides of a transport trailer where the bottom of the bottle is inserted in a wooden rack and the top of the bottle is simply chained to the side wall. In the event of any impact with the vehicle, the bottles can readily break free. In the event of a roll over of the vehicle the bottles can be released from their position of storage and free to move to any location inside or outside the vehicle. Up until now little attention appears to have been applied to proper restraint of the bottles during transportation.
A number of previous proposals provide brackets which attach to a support wall such as the side wall of a vehicle and which engage an upper part of the bottles. However these brackets assume structural integrity of the support wall which may not be sufficient strong to accommodate the forces involved in an accident, bearing in mind that a row of such bottles can weight as much as 1000 lbs.
One example of an arrangement of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,813 (Noonan) issued Feb. 22, 1972 where a number of such bottles are attached to a rail in two or more rows. However the structural integrity of the rail itself is not addressed.
A number of other alternatives provide a frame or container in the form of a palette which can be independently moved from place to place carrying a series of the bottles. One example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,109 (Stavio) issued Jan. 14, 1986 which discloses a container placed upon a palette for containing two rows of such bottles with an upstanding and overlying rail by which the palettes can be lifted.
However none of these arrangements are suitable to provide an effective mounting of the bottles during transportation in a manner which can maintain the bottles properly retained in place even in the event of a serious accident.